With back-to-school shopping right around the corner, I thought I’d share one of the ways I get office/school supplies pretty cheaply. Even though we homeschool, I still have to go shopping for those essential pencils, erasers, etc. And since I’m the teacher, I have to have all my own supplies, including printer paper. Now some things like pencils are pretty inexpensive already, but the pencil sharpener? I went through 3 or 4 sharpeners, some manual and some electric, before I found one that works like a charm–and it wasn’t cheap! But I got it absolutely FREE.

About a year ago, I signed up for the Office Max rewards card (it’s called MaxPerks). With the card, you are able to get rebates from your purchases credited to your account for the following month. Then I use those rewards to purchase items I need, or items that give me more rewards next month. Here’s an example of my first purchase. I needed paper for the printer, so I purchased a box of paper from Office Max. I paid $49.99 out of pocket that day, but the next month $40 of that was credited back to my MaxPerks card. So for that box of paper, I paid $9.99. That is $1 per ream of paper, and cheaper than I could buy it anywhere else. Then I was able to pick up dry erase markers, Scotch tape, etc. the next month for free. When I’m not in need of any particular supplies, I simply watch the sales flyer for their rebate deals and purchase the ones that come out free or close to free.

I know other office supply stores run similar promotions. I actually signed up for a Staples reward card first, but Staples was across town and I never made it over there to get the deals. I have an Office Max right around the corner from my house so it was very convenient.

Go ahead and sign up now for your rewards card because you usually have to wait a month for the rebates to be applied to your card. Watch those sale flyers, and you could be getting great deals on back-to-school in a month!

To see the rest of this series, click here.